The Trump Presidency – 2016

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

We've just endured eight utterly disgraceful & embarassing years of batshit insanity. It was ALREADY a "disgusting place to live" ... at least now there's SOME occasional semblance of sanity.

Fucking deal with it buttercups.

.

[Easy Mac]

Originally Posted by stevew

I thought that one of the only benefits of Hildawg losing would be that at least we wouldn't have to hear about 4-8 more years of clinton conspiracy theories. I guess i was wrong.

No, it was so we wouldn't have to endure years and years of congressional investigations.

[AENeuman]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Fucking deal with it buttercups.

Interestingly: Buttercups usually flower in the spring, but flowers may be found throughout the summer, especially where the plants are growing as opportunistic colonizers, as in the case of garden weeds.

[SirFozzie]

Trump's travel ban goes down in flames.

Again. (this time full 4th circuit court of appeals 10-3)

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Dear Donald,

The amount of money spent by NATO allies on defense has no bearing on how much the United States spends on defense. These aren't club dues.

Thank you.

It's a shame that the middle of that speech totally ruined what was a good beginning and end of that speech. Given what just happened in England, it was the wrong time to be chiding the other members of NATO about how much money they pay for its defense. Do it privately if you must and remember that these countries while democracies, and all run differently than the US and have different viewpoints on national security.

And all NATO members agreed that by 2024 they would reach that "magical" 2% contribution. That's seven years away. And no they are not going to pay the US that money anyway.

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Fucking deal with it buttercups.

Oh, we are.

I mean, not in the way you mean by just bending over and letting y'all pretend that what you want is either good or normal or consistent with American values.

But by fighting. And voting. And educating. And refusing to let this aberration seem normal.

I admit to being caught by surprise that y'all meant it when you said you'd rather burn the country down than let liberals have a voice in it. But it turns out y'all were dead serious.

And so I am dealing with it. Because this is a great country. And I love it. And I won't stand by while y'all try to burn it down.

I'm going to fucking deal with it.

[SirFozzie]

Yup. I hope it sticks in Jon's craw that they had everything, but once and for all time couldn't get it done, because guess what? You may be part of the majority, but you are a minority of the majority.

Or, as the bard would put it..

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

It's a shame that the middle of that speech totally ruined what was a good beginning and end of that speech. Given what just happened in England, it was the wrong time to be chiding the other members of NATO about how much money they pay for its defense. Do it privately if you must and remember that these countries while democracies, and all run differently than the US and have different viewpoints on national security.

And all NATO members agreed that by 2024 they would reach that "magical" 2% contribution. That's seven years away. And no they are not going to pay the US that money anyway.

He could also have said the U.S. is committed to Article 5 defense of all NATO members, but instead he left that out.

If only he'd praise our NATO allies the way he praises Duterte or Sisi.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Oh, we are.

I mean, not in the way you mean by just bending over and letting y'all pretend that what you want is either good or normal or consistent with American values.

But by fighting. And voting. And educating. And refusing to let this aberration seem normal.

I admit to being caught by surprise that y'all meant it when you said you'd rather burn the country down than let liberals have a voice in it. But it turns out y'all were dead serious.

And so I am dealing with it. Because this is a great country. And I love it. And I won't stand by while y'all try to burn it down.

I'm going to fucking deal with it.

*standing ovation*

[Radii]

Trump blurts out classified info again, worrying Pentagon officials | MSNBC


Trump tells foreign leader where we have two of our nuclear subs.


Not to mention the unprompted congratulations given to Duerte for his handling of the drug war in the Philippines. I suppose at this point I woudln't be surprised if Trump doesn't actually know what's happening there, or if he honestly thinks shooting drug suspects is a an effective way of handling things and wishes we'd do that here. Both are appaling and unforgivable though.


Add to this another court striking down the Travel Ban as referenced in an earlier post, and this amazing little clip of Trump shoving a fellow world leader out of the way to get into the front of the group:

Imgur




All of this is nothing compared to the news coming out every single day last week, but its just overwhelming how there is something new literally every single day that just feels unconscionable from this president and his administration.

[bronconick]

They're (Hannity & company) all going to end up at the new Right wing "news" channel run by Sinclair.

[Shkspr]

Originally Posted by Radii

All of this is nothing compared to the news coming out every single day last week, but its just overwhelming how there is something new literally every single day that just feels unconscionable from this president and his administration.

Look, this is nothing new. The roles were reversed under Obama when things were done every single day that were unconscionable to the people who elected the current administration. The only difference is that today's outrages are things like physically assaulting people, shoving world leaders, handing classified intelligence to rival nations, and lauding dictators, while the sins of the last administration were things like making kids eat vegetables, keeping air free of pollutants, and penalizing businesses for not keeping records of on-the-job injuries and deaths.

[tarcone]

Biggest waste of a possible great policy is when the Obamas caved to the big corporations on their school lunch program. It started out right. Like you said, getting kids to eat veggies. But when Big Food stepped in, it suddenly shifted to an exercise program.
Pizza is considered a vegetable under the revamped policy. Because it has tomato sauce.

Lets not think that the previous admin was so holy and upstanding. It bowed to the big corps like every other president in the last 50 (more?) years.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by tarcone

Biggest waste of a possible great policy is when the Obamas caved to the big corporations on their school lunch program. It started out right. Like you said, getting kids to eat veggies. But when Big Food stepped in, it suddenly shifted to an exercise program.
Pizza is considered a vegetable under the revamped policy. Because it has tomato sauce.

Lets not think that the previous admin was so holy and upstanding. It bowed to the big corps like every other president in the last 50 (more?) years.

Comparing apples to knuckledusters.

[molson]

I miss when our government was controlled by U.S. corporations instead of Russia.

[tarcone]

No, Im tired of the rose colored glasses everyone of you look through at the previous admin.

He wasnt as great as you think. And as history unfolds, it will be shown.

You are upset that you lost. And this guy is a fool. But he spoke what people wanted to hear. Outside of the big cities, that is. So now everything he does is sh*t compared to Obama.

But Obama was not that good a president. But he was yours. And you are owning his presidency as the greatest thing since the last Dem president.

[jeff061]

But you chose to make school lunches and pizza classifications your central example?

[Groundhog]

Yes, it's all partisan politics, even internationally I guess.

[tarcone]

Yeah. Because it was something that would have changed our society for the better. And would have changed the future of our country. But the admin bowed down and rolled over.

So, yes, I did use this as an example.

This is the first time in the history of the world that the younger generation will have a shorter life expectancy then the previous generation. Obesity has become the #1 preventable cause of disease. Taking over for tobacco. Type 2 diabetes cases are skyrocketing and it is preventable.

Processed food and sugars should be one of the biggest concerns for our future. And Michele Obama was going for it. She was going after food. Then Big Food stepped in.

So, yeah, I am going after them for that. And yeah, it does have implications internationally.

[EagleFan]

Can we finally grow up and get rid of the partisan politics? That is for neanderthals.

Obama was far from great but this bozo is so criminally incompetent that it would make merely awful look like the second coming of Washington.

[sabotai]

FWIW, The USDA wanted to increase the amount of tomato paste needed to count as a serving, making it so a slice of pizza wouldn't have enough to count. Republicans fought to keep the standard for tomato paste.

Republican lawmakers classified pizza as a vegetable for school lunches, Democrats say | PolitiFact

You may have heard the uproar by now: "Pizza is not a vegetable!"

Democrats used the rallying cry in a mass e-mail Nov. 17, 2011, alerting partisans that, "House Republicans are ramming through legislation this week to classify pizza as a 'vegetable' for the purpose of school lunches."

We wondered: Pizza as a vegetable? We had heard rumblings on social networks about magical pizza seeds and pizza gardens — all in response to Congress' action — and we had to know. Was it true?

Fewer vegetables for kids may not be exactly a win for America. But did House Republicans try "to classify pizza as a 'vegetable' for the purpose of school lunches"? They did fight for the classification for the sauce on the pizza and blocked a move by the Obama administration to boost the amount of tomato paste needed to count as a serving of vegetables. But they didn't try to classify "pizza" as a vegetable. And even the amount of tomato paste required, just two tablespoons, packs nearly the nutritional punch of a half-cup of other foods we consider healthy. That's a pretty important detail to omit. We call the Democrats' claim Half True.

[lungs]

Have school lunches gotten any better since I was in school? They were pretty much inedible in my day too (1990's). The lunch ladies, bless their souls, couldn't work miracles with some of that crap they had to work with.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by tarcone

Processed food and sugars should be one of the biggest concerns for our future. And Michele Obama was going for it. She was going after food. Then Big Food stepped in.

I'm totally fine with this. This is a policy issue. I'm totally ok with differeneces on policy, or sticking points on policy. I'm fine with the fact that the issues I care about that cause me to vote D most of the time are different than the issues you care about that lead you to vote however you vote when its different than me. This is all cool stuff.


I'm not fine with the ideas that Obama was a secret muslim kenyan who never should have been allowed to run. With the blatant lies that the far right chose to latch onto as scare tactics to increase the partisan divide. I'm not ok with vague statements about how Obama was intentionally destroying our nation without anything to point at as fact for that when shown items that might indicate that things are actually okay.



I'm also not fine with the response to stories about:

-- countless members of the trump team lying about meetings with russia
-- lies about income from russian state sources or turkish sources
-- firings that have ACTUALLY HAPPENED because of lies told about connections with russia
-- stories about attempts to impede active investigations
-- firing people who are investigating you
-- the President of the United States telling foreign adversaries national security secrets

being SETH RICH SETH RICH SETH RICH.



I'm a little confused at the buildup of all those things leading to a reply of "obama wasn't perfect either" and pointing to a school lunch program that should have been better, but, at least its an actual policy point. I'll take it.

[stevew]

Tried our school lunch certified pizza. It's absolutely trash.

(The regular one is too, but still)

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by lungs

Have school lunches gotten any better since I was in school? They were pretty much inedible in my day too (1990's). The lunch ladies, bless their souls, couldn't work miracles with some of that crap they had to work with.

My kids' school got a "burrito bar" this year. Son loves it. Basically $2 Chipotle.

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by Radii

I'm totally fine with this. This is a policy issue. I'm totally ok with differeneces on policy, or sticking points on policy. I'm fine with the fact that the issues I care about that cause me to vote D most of the time are different than the issues you care about that lead you to vote however you vote when its different than me. This is all cool stuff.


I'm not fine with the ideas that Obama was a secret muslim kenyan who never should have been allowed to run. With the blatant lies that the far right chose to latch onto as scare tactics to increase the partisan divide. I'm not ok with vague statements about how Obama was intentionally destroying our nation without anything to point at as fact for that when shown items that might indicate that things are actually okay.



I'm also not fine with the response to stories about:

-- countless members of the trump team lying about meetings with russia
-- lies about income from russian state sources or turkish sources
-- firings that have ACTUALLY HAPPENED because of lies told about connections with russia
-- stories about attempts to impede active investigations
-- firing people who are investigating you
-- the President of the United States telling foreign adversaries national security secrets

being SETH RICH SETH RICH SETH RICH.



I'm a little confused at the buildup of all those things leading to a reply of "obama wasn't perfect either" and pointing to a school lunch program that should have been better, but, at least its an actual policy point. I'll take it.

SO you oppose Obama Truthers who claim he was a Kenyan, Muslim, and other assorted lies.

And also oppose any negative response to Trump truthers.

Got it.

So You are a big meanieweenie head. And I am going to fight if you call em a big meanieweenie head.

Glad kindergarten is back

[digamma]

Huh?

[Chief Rum]

Did I miss anyone commenting on the Manchester investigation details leaking from U.S. intelligence to the press?

I am pretty outraged at that myself, and I am torn between whether I am more pissed at the intelligence committee being so petty as to hurt a terrorist bombing investigation for likely political reasons, or Trump for his stupid war on his own intelligence services that likely resulted in this even being possible.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

So You are a big meanieweenie head. And I am going to fight if you call em a big meanieweenie head.

Glad kindergarten is back

Alex Jones stole my blankie at naptime once. Ive hated all Republicans ever since. Stupid meanies.

(i seriously have no idea how to reasonably respond to this.)

[JPhillips]

Looks good for Gianforte to win.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by tarcone

Biggest waste of a possible great policy is when the Obamas caved to the big corporations on their school lunch program. It started out right. Like you said, getting kids to eat veggies. But when Big Food stepped in, it suddenly shifted to an exercise program.
Pizza is considered a vegetable under the revamped policy. Because it has tomato sauce.

Lets not think that the previous admin was so holy and upstanding. It bowed to the big corps like every other president in the last 50 (more?) years.

He fought against what you're saying. Republican Congress is the one that blocked it.

[digamma]

Originally Posted by Radii

Alex Jones stole my blankie at naptime once. Ive hated all Republicans ever since. Stupid meanies.

(i seriously have no idea how to reasonably respond to this.)

'Tis okay. It's been dismissed.

But when you cant make an argument that doesnt includes insult then I dismiss you as either incapable of comprehending logic and reason, or incapable of separating emotion and intellect.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by digamma

Huh?

I think he's saying believing Obama was a Muslim born in Kenya is the same as believing that Michael Flynn was working for Russia and Turkey without proper disclosure, Jeff Sessions was in contact with Russians during Trumps campaign, or that Trump hoped firing Comey would help bring about an end to the FBI's investigation of members of his campaign. Because both sides.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by mckerney

I think he's saying believing Obama was a Muslim born in Kenya is the same as believing that Michael Flynn was working for Russia and Turkey without proper disclosure, Jeff Sessions was in contact with Russians during Trumps campaign, or that Trump hoped firing Comey would help bring about an end to the FBI's investigation of members of his campaign. Because both sides.

But Benghazi! Emails! Vince Foster!

Clearly this mole hill of Russia that the left is choosing to die on is nothing but hypocritical mass histrionics. They're just trying to get even, but they've chosen a real stinker of a made up story. This wouldn't have happened if Clinton had won. All those people suspected would be dead already.

[Butter]

What irks me most of all is that now we can't have any news reported independently without people saying that it is made up.

The war on facts has gone so far as to having whole segments of the population being unable to agree on literally basic facts. It is so frustrating to watch.

[Flasch186]

Originally Posted by Butter

What irks me most of all is that now we can't have any news reported independently without people saying that it is made up.

The war on facts has gone so far as to having whole segments of the population being unable to agree on literally basic facts. It is so frustrating to watch.

THIS

[Ben E Lou]

#BREAKING New US-led Syria strike kills 80 relatives of IS fighters: monitor

— AFP news agency (@AFP) May 26, 2017

"You have to take out their families."

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by Butter

What irks me most of all is that now we can't have any news reported independently without people saying that it is made up.

The war on facts has gone so far as to having whole segments of the population being unable to agree on literally basic facts. It is so frustrating to watch.

Did you steal that from Neil DeGrasse Tyson? I'm pretty sure that's what his movie was all about on Earth Day.

[QuikSand]

Here's @RepSanfordSC on Gianforte and politics in the age of Trump: 'There is total weirdness out there.' pic.twitter.com/Le48yCAksk

— Mike DeBonis (@mikedebonis) May 25, 2017

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

#BREAKING New US-led Syria strike kills 80 relatives of IS fighters: monitor

— AFP news agency (@AFP) May 26, 2017

"You have to take out their families."

Yeah, this'll deter them.

[Kodos]

Trump has a new campaign theme song!

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

Here's @RepSanfordSC on Gianforte and politics in the age of Trump: 'There is total weirdness out there.' pic.twitter.com/Le48yCAksk

— Mike DeBonis (@mikedebonis) May 25, 2017

Gianforte was obviously wrong, but by itself, his violence isn't that concerning. My bigger problem is the army of prominent defenders that have come out with some variation of, "he deserved it." The rot runs deep.

[Thomkal]

Apparently, Trump just doesn't like a lot of what Germany has to offer:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ort/102162310/

[JPhillips]

This from the Economist on the lack of competition in the U.S. is good.

http://www.economist.com/news/briefi...uch-good-thing

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by Radii

Alex Jones stole my blankie at naptime once. Ive hated all Republicans ever since. Stupid meanies.

(i seriously have no idea how to reasonably respond to this.)

Sorry, thumbed that out on my phone and apparently a complete paragraph got deleted.

My point was, and I dont like Trump..made that abundantly clear here. I have said that in my entire lifetime I think Trump was the 3rd worst Presidential Candidate I'd ever seen. I put such liberals as Michael Dukakis, Bill Clinton, and even Al Gore ahead of him in terms of quality Presidential candidate.

But the vitriol and incessant pounding of looking for ways to remove the elected President for office, is childish. I said it was stupid when certain folks continued to bang the drum that Obama was a Kenyan and Muslim secret operative etc. That's just childish games.

I lost so I am going to shit talk the winner.

Anyone who has ever been successful in sales has learned long ago that when you lose a pitch you gracefully acknowledge the competitor and no that you will get your second shot. To rail and denigrate the victor only reveals your character and hurts future efforts. But that's just my opinion.


There is a reason I hate political threads. In the history of FOFC we have successfully converted exactly zero people on exactly zero issues.

I am a proud conservative, but dont blindly follow a partisan flag. I didnt nash my teeth and scream the horror of the AHCA, despite it totally changing my life and not for the better. I accepted that it was apparently what the people of this country thought they wanted. Frankly the entire process just depresses me.

Since it is obvious my view isn't shared by many here and isnt valued amongst those who oppose it, I will simply save my keyboard the life cycle strokes and bow out.

Carry on.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

But the vitriol and incessant pounding of looking for ways to remove the elected President for office, is childish. I said it was stupid when certain folks continued to bang the drum that Obama was a Kenyan and Muslim secret operative etc. That's just childish games.

Do you honestly believe that the population of people who called Obama a Muslim secret operative, and the population of people who have issues with Trump's potential ties to Putin, his staff's lying about connections, his apparent lack of caring about those things, his firing of Comey to remove the pressure, etc...are the same?

If the answer in your opinion is yes, that's fine.

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by Logan

Do you honestly believe that the population of people who called Obama a Muslim secret operative, and the population of people who have issues with Trump's potential ties to Putin, his staff's lying about connections, his apparent lack of caring about those things, his firing of Comey to remove the pressure, etc...are the same?

If the answer in your opinion is yes, that's fine.

Do I believe they are the same people? No.
Do I believe they are the numbers? No.
Do I believe they are each equally delusional? Yes.

Frankly there are (many) more Left/Liberal/Democrats in this country than right. So the 10% crazies of the left represent a greater total number than the 10% crazies of the right. Plus the media (in general - Fox being an obvious outlier) has more a left leaning bias so the coverage and proliferation of the message is more wide spread.

Now I want to be sure my point is made. I am not saying in any way that I feel authoritatively that Trump nor any of his "people" have had zero contact/relationship with Putin and that this is all a strawman. I am saying its affect on the election is being massively overblown and is NOT the reason he in the POTUS.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

But the vitriol and incessant pounding of looking for ways to remove the elected President for office, is childish. I said it was stupid when certain folks continued to bang the drum that Obama was a Kenyan and Muslim secret operative etc. That's just childish games.

The fact that a republican led house, a republican led senate, and a Trump appointed Deputy Attorney General all have looked at whatever intelligence is available from the FBI and have decided to open investigations makes this different. This isn't liberal conspiracy fake news. Say what you want about any media reports, there are actual investigations into a republican campaign despite republicans controlling the entire government.


If a person reads the republican healthcare bill and the response is IMPEACH TRUMP, I agree with you. Bush Jr never did anything impeachable, he just did some stuff I didn't like. I really strongly dislike many of Trump's policies that he wants to enact. None of them make him impeachable.

But an actual investigation into actual illegal acts to determine if anything happened that is literally treasonous... that's a whole different ballgame.

I'm well aware that if Trump gets removed from office that, from a policy perspective, things will actually be worse for me and my beliefs. Mike Pence, Paul Ryan, Orin Hatch... whoever ends up president, may actually successfully unite the republican party and enact legislation I find reprehensible. Impeaching Trump wouldn't feel like a partisan or democratic victory. If the active investigations into the Trump campaign find any impeachable offenses, then removing the man from office would be justice for the entire nation.

There is a reason I hate political threads. In the history of FOFC we have successfully converted exactly zero people on exactly zero issues.

I can't disagree with that, and I have taken long breaks from the political threads at times here over the years.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

Frankly there are (many) more Left/Liberal/Democrats in this country than right.

From Gallup in January of 2017:

36% of Americans now conservative, 25% liberal

For as long as I can remember self-identified conservatives have outnumbered liberals by a significant margin.

[Kodos]

It may or may not be why he was elected, but in either case, aren't you troubled by numerous members of his upper-level staff lying about meeting with Russians (our number one enemy) and possibly colluding with them during the election? I can't imagine the outrage on the right if either Obama or Hillary had these exact same accusations against them.